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What One Forgets While in Law School

abcde — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 01:33:10 +0100

It's been so long since I've posted that I almost forgot how to log into this blog. I feel guilty about not having posted in so long. I hope it's not a sign that, while in law school, I've "forgotten" about my longer-term commitment (and the very reason I went to law school): educational justice. In some ways, it's clear that I haven't. As the best example, this past year, I was a student attorney in the education law clinic. The clinic represents children in the Boston area who have faced unspeakable--truly jaw-dropping--trauma. All of our clients are students with special needs. The clinic uses the power behind the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to advocate so that these students receive the "free appropriate public education" (FAPE) that they are entitled to. I started litigation on behalf of my client against a school district for failing to provide FAPE in various ways over many years. By the end of the semester, the situation had ended favorably and my client was in a much better school environment. The clinical experience was incredibly rewarding, mainly because I saw how the legal system could be used to protect our most vulnerable students. It was also revealing; I learned just how resource- and time-intensive litigation could be. Though I was glad to have "won" my case, in retrospect, I shudder somewhat at the amount of time and energy that went into litigation that ultimately helped only a single client. At any rate, my commitment to education was evident while in the clinic. But in other ways, it's clear that I have "forgotten" something. Two years ago, I started my day by reading the education section of the New York Times and Washington Post; today, I start by reviewing my notes for intellectual property and constitutional law. Two years ago, I was writing several blog posts a week on education; today, I write only an endless stream of notes on cases. Two years ago, I spent my afternoons and evenings daydreaming about creative solutions to intractable problems in public education; today, I spend my afternoons and evenings reading judicial opinions and daydreaming when I can't parse some of the incredibly confusing language that judges use. Some part of the "spark" for education that I had is gone. Part of this loss is completely understandable and no cause for worry. Law school, after all, is a busy beast. Moreover, this is the last chance I'll have to be in school, so I might as well take advantage of the opportunities to learn. Finally, it's not as though I hate IP law or constitutional law; on the contrary, I love almost every area of law that I've studied. But in a mainstream law school like Harvard, it's hard not to get sucked into the legal rat race/paper chase--one in which the pressure to "become a true lawyer" displaces or, at the very least, greatly minimizes the varied passions that one might have had before. I feel stifled. I feel like one in a long line of cookies made from a centuries-old cookie cutter. One of my law school classmates--who, like me, was both a DC CM and in the education law clinic--regularly conveys to me the same feeling. So I know my situation isn't unique. This isn't an indictment of law school or legal education. In fact, I couldn't be happier with my choice to come to law school. I'm confident that I am gaining the written and oral advocacy skills that will enable me to advocate more effectively on behalf of those who most need help in the incredibly un-level playing field that is American society. Instead, I've come to the realization that a perhaps inevitable part of obtaining a JD is that the cookie cutter slices away parts of one's identity that one would rather retain. I need to avoid this somehow. What's my solution? I'm going to start writing here again. Bit by bit. One post a week seems perfectly attainable. Given that I'm now far removed from the classroom--the former endless source of blog topics--I'll have to, once again, immerse myself fully in the contemporary debate on education. Spring break has given me some time to mull and ponder. So here begins the rebirth of A.B.C.D.E.

Reality Israel...or why I'm more optimistic about TFA than I used to be

dcchillin — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 16:33:43 +0100

Just got back from the Reality Israel trip. For those who have not heard of it, TFA pays for 70+ corps members to travel to Israel for 12 days, hear from educators and leaders, and engage in discussions about education, leadership, and inequity. For free. Yes, you heard that right. All expenses paid. Perhaps I'll write more about the trip and my takeaways another time. For now, I wanted to give two reasons I'm more optimistic about TFA than I used to be. (Disclaimer...in the past, I have ranted against TFA. Particularly during the "Dark Days" of September-December of year one.) 1) On this trip, I had the chance to meet several people who are pretty high up on TFA Staff. And contrary to what I may have expected, their views on education and what it will take to close the achievement gap are different, nuanced, and evolving. Contrary to what Gary Rubinstein might have you believe (and I read Gary's blog and think it's well worth reading), TFA is not some lock-step organization behind the scenes. TFA National Staff is committed to continuously improving TFA and changing the organization to best meet the needs of students. 2) Although I'm still not convinced bringing rookies in to teach kids is the best solution, the quality of people TFA is bringing into the education game is astounding. I met many corps members on this trip that may have struggled in their first year, but ultimately became (or will become) outstanding teachers and outstanding advocates for low-income students in the future. Feel free to comment if you like.

Point/Counterpoint

abcde — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 04:11:00 +0100

I suspect this Onion article is poking some fun at TFA. Have a laugh, if you will:

Point

My Year Volunteering As A Teacher Helped Educate A New Generation Of Underprivileged Kids

BY MEGAN RICHMOND, VOLUNTEER TEACHER When I graduated college last year, I was certain I wanted to make a real difference in the world. After 17 years of education, I felt an obligation to share my knowledge and skills with those who needed it most.After this past year, I believe I did just that. Working as a volunteer teacher helped me reach out to a new generation of underprivileged children in dire need of real guidance and care. Most of these kids had been abandoned by the system and, in some cases, even by their families, making me the only person who could really lead them through the turmoil.Was it always easy? Of course not. But with my spirit and determination, we were all able to move forward. Those first few months were the most difficult of my life. Still, I pushed through each day knowing that these kids really needed the knowledge and life experience I had to offer them. In the end, it changed all of our lives. In some ways, it's almost like I was more than just a teacher to those children. I was a real mentor who was able to connect with them and fully understand their backgrounds and help them become the leaders of tomorrow. Ultimately, I suppose I can never know exactly how much of an impact I had on my students, but I do know that for me it was a fundamentally eye-opening experience and one I will never forget.

Counterpoint

Can We Please, Just Once, Have A Real Teacher?

BY BRANDON MENDEZ, JAMES MILLER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT You've got to be kidding me. How does this keep happening? I realize that as a fourth-grader I probably don't have the best handle on the financial situation of my school district, but dealing with a new fresh-faced college graduate who doesn't know what he or she is doing year after year is growing just a little bit tiresome. Seriously, can we get an actual teacher in here sometime in the next decade, please? That would be terrific.Just once, it would be nice to walk into a classroom and see a teacher who has a real, honest-to-God degree in education and not a twentysomething English graduate trying to bolster a middling GPA and a sparse law school application. I don't think it's too much to ask for a qualified educator who has experience standing up in front of a classroom and isn't desperately trying to prove to herself that she's a good person.I'm not some sort of stepping stone to a larger career, okay? I'm an actual child with a single working mother, and I need to be educated by someone who actually wants to be a teacher, actually comprehends the mechanics of teaching, and won't get completely eaten alive by a classroom full of 10-year-olds within the first two months on the job. How about a person who can actually teach me math for a change? Boy, wouldn't that be a novel concept! I fully understand that our nation is currently facing an extreme shortage of teachers and that we all have to make do with what we can get. But does that really mean we have to be stuck with some privileged college grad who completed a five-week training program and now wants to document every single moment of her life-changing year on a Tumblr? For crying out loud, we're not adopted puppies you can show off to your friends. Look, we all get it. Underprivileged children occasionally say some really sad things that open your eyes and make you feel as though you've grown as a person, but this is my actual education we're talking about here. Graduating high school is the only way for me to get out of the malignant cycle of poverty endemic to my neighborhood and to many other impoverished neighborhoods throughout the United States. I can't afford to spend these vital few years of my cognitive development becoming a small thread in someone's inspirational narrative. But hey, how much can I really know, anyway? I haven't had an actual teacher in three years.

Closin' it down

curley-girly — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 18:11:30 +0100

We have officially moved to Salt Lake City! We arrived May 30th, and are still waiting for the movers to show up with our stuff.. eesh. It's not been too bad, as we've had our trusty blow-up mattress, and belongings we've lived with for the past month with the in-laws. Hopefully our stuff will arrive THIS WEEK, since today is the deadline. ;) Salt Lake is indeed beautiful! We have spent lots of time already at Liberty Park, and driven around Sugar House and the 9th and 9th area quite a bit. This past weekend, we spent time with Brandon's family up in Jackson Hole- hiking around and relaxing. Brandon is beginning orientation on the 15th, then we head out to Zion National Park with the University of Utah that weekend, can't wait! Residents and their 'significants' are invited to enjoy the beauty of Zion together, as a way of bonding everyone before the real work begins. I've decided to find a new means of 'blogging' (check out my new art website, http://ecgart.blogspot.com/ ) so this will be my last official post on this site- especially since I won't be teaching full time this upcoming year. I'm currently looking for jobs with art and/or kids here in Salt Lake, but nothing has popped up yet! I know God has a perfect plan for me, 'job' or not! :) Now, my main job is taking care of my hubby and our soon-arriving puppy, Okie May- a Bernese Mountain Dog! She comes home with us next month, and we can't wait!! Thanks to those of you who have read or commented on here. I hope this blog has been informational, encouraging, and interesting for you! Signing off, Emily Curley Geister

A Gap in the Transition from High School to College

abcde — Wed, 30 May 2012 01:54:30 +0100

I have a guest post today that I've been meaning to share for a while. Over spring break, I had the opportunity to sit down with Dave Cass, an adjunct professor at University of Colorado at Boulder's Leeds School of Business. Dave has held numerous positions in the world of higher education and is currently focused on addressing what I believe is one of the most pressing needs in the world of education: college readiness. To that end, Dave founded and currently runs Uvize, an educational technology company focused on student success. Uvize is currently working with individual students, high schools, and college departments on implementing academic orientation programs. Over the course of two hours of discussion, Dave told me an interesting story about the determinants of college success. I was surprised by what I learned.

Dave also gave me a copy of his new book, The Strategic Student: Successfully Transitioning from High School to College Academics. It's a quick and excellent read. I consider myself to have been a strategic and successful student throughout my educational career. But I know I'd have gained a lot from reading this book earlier; I'm confident that I can apply some of the simple but effective strategies that Dave provides even as I continue law school.

Has this introduction piqued your interest yet? I hope so. So without further ado, here's Dave's piece!

*****

Lack of student success in college has become a very serious problem in the United States. Let’s look at four random college-bound students. Here they are—ready to start school, happy as can be:

But according to American College Testing (ACT), approximately 1 in 4 freshmen do not return to college after their freshmen year and almost 50 percent will never graduate. Why do so many students struggle during their first year in college? The main reason is their inability to effectively transition from high school to college academics. So with one of our four students dropping out during the first year and a second student departing further down the road, we only have two remaining at graduation.

Last year almost $5 billion dollars in federal tuition aid was spent on freshmen who never returned for their sophomore year. If our government spent $5 billion on freshmen attrition, I can’t help but wonder how much more money parents ”wasted” on the same issue. These staggering figures do not even begin to address the number of students simply underachieving (e.g. C students who could be A students). Over the years, I interviewed hundreds of college students and found that almost 70% of students felt they underachieved academically and could have done better in college.

So by senior year, two of our students have already dropped out and chances are good that one of the remaining students feels as if she underachieved and didn’t perform as well as she could have. In other words, only 1 in 4 students actually accomplish what they set out to accomplish during their first year in college! We as a society are paying a high price for such a pathetic success rate.

Let’s summarize what happened to our original four students:

We started with 4…

~50% fail to graduate…

And if 70% of students feel as though they have underachieved, chances are good that one of the remaining two students feels this way. In other words, only one in four college students truly succeeds!

At the end of my first year teaching college naval science and leadership classes I was also an academic adviser to about 40 freshmen. During that time I found that traditional measurements of academic aptitude such as class rank and SAT scores were inaccurate predictors of college success. In other words, those who were the “smart kids” in high school couldn’t just assume success would follow in college. On the flipside, those who struggled in high school (or had a weaker high school experience), could still be wildly successful in college. I saw both situations happen many times. My conclusion after almost four years of observation: College is much more about skills than natural aptitude. But this is actually great news because skills can be taught. The main cause of the struggle that freshmen face has little to do with innate intelligence; rather their struggle arises from the lack of skills students possess to successfully navigate the transition from high school to college academics. Students have spent thirteen years (K-12) studying in one specific educational framework and then they are sent off to a much less structured framework of education. Even though these students are dropped into a dramatically unfamiliar and complex environment, we expect them, somehow, to figure things out on their own. This often derails even the smartest of students. The bright side is that every student can prevent failure and achieve success regardless of his or her natural aptitude or academic background—each just needs to be taught how to navigate his or her new environment. The lack of education in transitional skills is exactly why I started Uvize and why I wrote The Strategic Student: Successfully Transitioning from High School to College Academics. That lonely student above? With the right skills, he or she can and will have more classmates who also feel they have achieved academic success. -Dave Cass is Founder of Uvize, Inc. (feel free to email him here).

The Meaning of a High School Diploma

abcde — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:07:48 +0100

I've been away from this blog for a bit. I'm making that final push at the end of my first year of law school. Classes are over and my first exam begins within 48 hours. But I wanted to share something. As I was studying today, I received a phone call from BO. It was the first time I'd heard from her since she graduated last June. As my memories of the classroom rushed back, I remembered that BO was, at times, more unruly and unpredictable than I'd liked. I recalled occasions where she'd refused to follow along in class, claimed I was a terrible person, stormed out of my classroom--you name it. Eventually, we'd come to terms, but then the next cycle would begin. She was a thorn in my side. I'd worked with BO, on and off (her attendance was spotty), over the previous two years and slowly discovered the obstacles in her life. She had many. Needless to say, getting her to the point where she could graduate was a challenge, requiring teachers and staff to pull all kinds of strings. When she walked across the stage last summer, I couldn't have been happier. She'd made it. Or so I thought. BO is not in college. She's trying to go. BO is jobless. She's now looking for work. But she doesn't know what a resume is. Which is why she called me. Her request caught me off guard. But I did my best to help. I explained to her the primary purpose of a resume. I asked her questions to see if she'd had any relevant work experience or skills that she could highlight. She said she had nothing to add. But I found out she'd volunteered at Rock Creek Park one summer. I told her to include that as relevant work. I knew she was a visual learner, so I told her I'd track down some examples of simple and effective resumes and send them to her. She told me about the range of jobs she was considering, but that each employer had requested a resume. I sent her off to make a resume and get back to me with a draft. After hanging up, I sat in my chair, stunned. How did this happen? How could an education system let a student graduate high school without knowing what a resume is? This is a question with an answer too complex to answer in a blog post (and in the midst of exams). At the very least, however, I think that this illustrates how important it is to consider what a high school diploma actually means for many of our nation's students. For many (hopefully most), it means a gateway to college, or to employment. For others, like BO, it means very little--or perhaps nothing. And that's a sad statement on the state of public education. (I have a guest post in the works from someone who is doing great things in the related space of college readiness. Look for that after exams are over and I get my life back.)

Springing into more changes in 2012!

curley-girly — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:28:46 +0100

Lots of updates again, since the last post in January... #1. We are moving to Salt Lake City, Utah this summer for Brandon's medical school residency program!!! We are super excited! We just found out this past Friday, March 16th! It was our number one choice, for many reason- the program training and schedule we liked best, his little bro is out there for graduate school, we love the mountains & various outdoor activities the city and state has to offer, K2 church is awesome, there are tons of parks and tons of dogs, beautiful & clean city, friendly people, and there's straight flights back to OKC and Tulsa! We are excited about the next 3yrs. out there! #2. We got our dream car on Saturday, St. Patty's Day!- a Subaru Outback, in deep indigo blue! We are so thankful, and know we will get a TON of use out of it in SLC, with its All-Wheel-Drive, and space for a dog and baby (one day!) ;) Too bad the 'luck of the Irish' didn't last on Sunday... when we got a huge nail in our front left tire... wah wah- Good news! Brandon knew how to fix a flat no problem, so I helped out by shining a flashlight where he needed it, haha. It was also good that he fixed it last night, because today has been POURING rain! #3. Today is our ONE YEAR wedding anniversary! ;) It has been an incredible year! After getting married in March and settling down in our little apartment, we waited for me to finish the school year at SHA before leaving on our Hawaiian Honeymoon in June! What a blast! We enjoyed Maui & Kaui, and before going home, spent time with my sister in Vail, Co. I switched jobs to Crossings in the fall, and we became an Aunt & Uncle for the first time for Miss Ava Magnolia on October 11th. We enjoyed time with Brandon's family for Thanksgiving, and time with the Curley side for Christmas, my Bday, & New Years! It's crazy to think that we'll be leaving for SLC in just under 3 months! If someone had told me we'd be moving there a year ago, no way would I have believed them! I am SO GLAD we are though- what an adventure! I will have lived in the Midwest (or South, as some say), the Northeast, and the Northwest! The Utah program might even give us the chance to go to Africa for a short time! ;) How cool would that be? As for now, I'm giving thanks for the past year, and looking forward to another exciting chapter in His story of my life! ;)

The Sacrifices A Parent Makes to Educate One's Child

abcde — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:34:15 +0100

I recently discussed a (startling) case in which a homeless mother was sentenced to 12 years in prison for, among other things, "stealing an education." This charge of first-degree larceny came after Tanya McDowell falsified her residency information in order to enroll her 6-year-old son in a neighboring school district. I thought it was crazy--yet completely rational--that a parent would choose to risk jail time in order to put her child in a better school. But I never expected this. It turns out there are lots of parents out there who are making all sorts of insane sacrifices in order to increase their children's educational opportunities:

An anonymous Hartford, CT mother, "do[ing] what [she] had to do as a mother," gave her sister custody of her child because her sister lived in a school district with better test scores.
Another anonymous Hartford, CT mother, recognizing her own experience as a Hartford Public Schools graduate (i.e. she graduated functionally illiterate), placed some of her children in neighboring Windsor, CT (“I knew what [Hartford Public Schools] did to me, pushed me out without being able to read and write... I was determined that my child wasn’t going to get caught up in that system.”).
Marie Menard, a Stratford, CT-based grandmother, was arrested for first-degree larceny and conspiracy for helping her Milford, CT-based grandchildren enroll within her school district.
After Yolanda Miranda, a Rochester, NY-based mother of five, was arrested for stealing education by enrolling her children in a neighboring school district, she chose to give up guardianship over her children to her mother, who resided in a better school district.
Kelly Williams-Bolar, of Akron, OH, also served jail time after prosecutors discovered she had enrolled her daughters in neighboring Copley-Fairlawn's school district.

(See more on the issue here and here.) ***** I have two things to say: First, everything that the above-mentioned parents have done to find the best possible school arrangement for their children is understandable--and particularly so in light of the experience of someone whom I am very close to. This person is a first-generation immigrant of color who came to the US during high school in search of better educational opportunities. When this person arrived in some unnamed port city, she discovered that the schools in the district in which she began to reside were sub-par. This person researched the surrounding school districts and found one with significantly better schools. Through means that were "unconventional" but likely (and hopefully) still "legal," this person was able to go to a great school in that neighboring district. The rest, as they say, was history: this person went on to graduate from a great college and began a highly-successful career. She is now living the American Dream. But what would've happened if she hadn't been able to go to the neighboring district's school? What would've happened if she were arrested and jailed for attempting to do so? Would she be where she is now? ***** Second, I think Susan Eaton of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice (and author of one my favorite education-related books, The Children in Room E4--see "Stop 4" here) makes a valid point that the debate over education reform often papers over the more "unsavory aspects" of the history of public schools and residential zoning in the United States:

Racial discrimination was at the very root of how these districts were created... But no one wants to really open up that discussion again. So instead we say, ‘Work harder, be tougher, do better somehow. Good luck.’

I agree that the dialogue on education reform sometimes loses touch with this reality. It's not enough to frame the debate simply in terms of, say, "teacher quality" or "school choice" in the abstract; instead, each element needs to be viewed through the lens of race and racial discrimination--something that persists, to this day, in subtle and not-so-subtle forms. Communities of color face staggering problems of "teacher quality" and have practically no "school choice." The issue of race, which is so intertwined with the debate, should be emphasized more in this debate. Indeed, I've learned enough about prosecutorial discretion to know that the practical reality in our nation today is that groups of people with certain characteristics (read: dark skin) are likely to be disparately impacted by the criminal justice system. It is telling that, of all the cases I've seen that have reached the criminal prosecution stage, every parent has been black. Even though Marie Menard herself is white, her grandchildren are of mixed race. So-called "discretion" has been exercised with more rigor when black students are involved. As with the War on Drugs, so too with education.

Wendy Kopp Visits HGSE: Has TFA's Philosophy Shifted?

abcde — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 21:52:19 +0100

Wendy Kopp was on campus Thursday as part of the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Askwith Forum series. She gave brief remarks about TFA before several current ed school students who are TFA alumni joined her. I wandered over from an amazing conference at the law school on "Closing the School to Prison Pipeline" (more on that in another post) to see the event. As always, I enjoyed hearing Wendy speak. It is always good to see what those at the top are thinking. She didn't relay anything new or earth-shattering. But I guess I'm already pretty clued into the statistics and what TFA is thinking about. Yet, I came away from the talk with a sense that the framing of TFA's philosophy (i.e. its "theory of change") has subtly shifted from an emphasis on near-term goals to one on long-term goals. I'll explain what I mean. ***** One major misconception about TFA is that its primary goal is to develop career classroom teachers. Critics who understand TFA's mission in this way point to the 2-year commitment and the fact that many CMs do eventually leave the classroom as evidence that TFA fails to achieve the primary goal it set out to achieve. But this is, and always has been, an oversimplification of what TFA seeks to do. TFA is ultimately focused on creating an alumni network that is better grounded in the problem of public education and that will pursue education reform from all angles. The 2-year classroom commitment is the common bond that all alumni share, but from which each is expected to pursue his or her own unique career path that contributes, in some way, to closing the achievement gap. For some, this will mean staying a classroom teacher. For others, however, this will mean going into school leadership, district leadership, politics, law, medicine--you name it. Seen this way, TFA appears to be quite successful. TFA alumni from the early years are now breaking into leadership positions in all sectors of society. Kaya Henderson (New York '92) runs DC Public Schools. Kevin Huffman (Houston '92) is Tennessee's education commissioner. Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg (Houston '92) founded and run the KIPP network of charter schools. Mike Johnston (Mississippi Delta '97) is a Colorado state senator. I even discovered that the Washington Examiner's (former) education reporter, Leah Fabel--whose articles I read every day while I lived in DC--is a TFA alum. ***** But up until now, the "rhetoric" around TFA, at least as I've seen it, has been focused on the short-term--on what CMs are doing in the classroom during the 2-year commitment. Sure, TFA mentions its alumni leaders here and there. But, largely, the emphasis has been on the power of the individual teacher--the effective, indomitable leader--to transform students' lives within the classroom. TFA has collected and disseminated statistics about its "all-star" teachers to justify this idea of classroom success. Implicit in the language is the idea that a strong teacher can lead his or her students to achieve, even in a chaotic, support-less environment and even with students who are many years behind and face tremendous obstacles. The focus has been primarily on the individual, the current CM. Several things that Wendy mentioned indicate that the "rhetoric" is shifting beyond the individual and beyond the CM. A large part of the discussion was about TFA as preparation for subsequent leadership (unsurprising, given that the alumni on the panel were all pursuing careers in education leadership of some sort). During this discussion, Wendy expressed her belief that "the school is the unit of change, not the individual teacher." One also sees this idea reflected in Wendy's most recent WSJ op-ed, which opposes the New York City schools' public release of teachers' performance assessment data, on the grounds that the focus on the individual teacher "distract[s] attention from the long, hard work required to ensure that our schools are high-performing, mission-driven organizations with strong teams, strong cultures and strong results." I found this at odds with the individual-focused TFA rhetoric I'd heard for so long. But I can understand the shift. TFA, having "justified" itself as an organization capable of producing successful CMs within the classroom, is using its gained legitimacy to focus on the real problem--the systemic one. Wendy emphasized that a consensus had developed within reform circles that "we have to change schools [and districts]" Strong leadership at the systemic level is now, more than ever before, needed. Wendy said that TFA views its "mission as to grow the source of those leaders" and is doing a lot more to "galvanize leadership among alumni" to achieve "change at scale." TFA, Wendy reiterated, is really about changing the "values in America" so that those who might otherwise have headed to Wall Street and other positions of mainstream leadership would see, and be energized by, the challenges that so many low-income communities face. The fight for change, in other words, is ongoing--"this is not about 2 years." ***** Just to be clear, the point I'm making is not that TFA's goals have changed; the goal of producing leaders in society--who are exposed to, and driven to change, the injustices of our current education system--has always been a part of TFA's mission. What has changed is how much emphasis TFA places on this goal (at the expense of the shorter-term goal of developing successful classroom teachers). What is happening beyond the 2-year commitment seems to be much more important now than ever before. Even in the realm of law, Tracy-Elizabeth Clay, TFA's General Counsel, recently visited Harvard Law School and spoke to the TFA alumni here about several initiatives TFA is starting to better harness its alumni in law. The long-term vision is to create a "talent pool" from which school districts, CMOs and legal advocacy groups can draw from. I saw in this meeting a clear focus on doing more to leverage the thousands of alumni who are already out pursuing careers of all sorts. TFA has done little to support alumni; it now is trying harder, it seems. I welcome this shift. 20 years since TFA's founding, the state of education still has a long way to go. I'm hopeful that by harnessing the TFA alumni movement, we will move ever closer to a world in which all our students will receive excellent educations and thus have the increased life opportunities they deserve.

On Stealing an Education

abcde — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 05:52:05 +0100

You read it right: an education can be stolen. Tanya McDowell, a homeless woman from Bridgeport, recently pleaded guilty to first degree larceny for fraudulently using her babysitter's address to enroll her 6-year-old son in the neighboring town of Norwalk. As a result, she was sentenced to 12 years in prison. She only wanted a better education for her son. (The context is complicated by other factors. She was also arrested for dealing drugs. Both the larceny and drug charges were made together. This forced her into a plea bargain, and into a particular form called an Alford plea. Read more here and here.) This case provides much food for thought. It's particular relevant, given my most recent post:

I’m making my first foray into another sphere this summer. I’ll be working on housing/foreclosure litigation on behalf of low-income families at a legal services organization in Bridgeport, CT. I intend to serve my clients to the best of my abilities, but also to learn more about how housing–or the lack of it–in turn affects educational achievement. I think the experience will be particularly interesting given that Bridgeport’s school district ranks 161st out of CT’s 165 school districts.

I thought I'd focus on the educational aspect of the story: what was the state of affairs behind Ms. McDowell's motivation to send her son to school in Norwalk? With my investigative hat on, I went onto School Digger and dug around. I compiled some basic data on three sets of CT elementary schools: (1) Bridgeport's (2) Norwalk's (3) CT's top 10. There was a lot of data to play with, but I think this chart captures the situation well: Here are some observations (putting aside the complications that Ms. McDowell's homelessness created):

Practically all of Bridgeport's elementary schools are worse than any of Norwalk's schools--and those schools themselves tend to fall in the bottom half of CT's schools overall.
The school that Ms. McDowell chose to send her son to was, itself, not emblematic of "upward educational mobility." Brookside ES ranks 383 out of CT's 530 elementary schools--almost putting it in the bottom quartile.
(Practically) all of CT's top schools have no poor students.
There is a very strong correlation between poverty (implied through the free and reduced lunch rate) and school rank (based on CT Mastery Test scores).
There's a (bleak) story behind the weird outlier (the top 10 school with an 89% FRL rate) that probably caught your eye just as it caught mine. This is not a case of an amazing school defying the odds. Rather, it is a case of a school's faculty gone succumbing to the pressure to raise test scores. Even sadder is that the school is called Hopeville.

And my thoughts: Ms. McDowell ultimately appears to have made a rational decision by sending her son, albeit illegally, to the Norwalk school district. Who can fault a mother for wanting the best education possible for her son? While I doubt that Ms. McDowell used School Digger to choose Brookside, I'm sure her decision was influenced by what she knew of the school. And what she knew was that the education there was probably going to be much better than anything her son could get in Bridgeport. But, as noted, the crushing part about this story is that the school she chose to send her son to was itself mediocre and likely not an environment that would have made a huge difference in her son's life opportunities. She risked--and eventually was forced into--jail time to improve her son's education to only a marginal degree. That she would do this (assuming, of course, that her son's education was her primary motivation--something I have no reason to doubt) shows just how ****ed up our education system is. In a state with as stark of an income inequality as Connecticut, this story is troublesome. It should make us rethink how we control access to our public schools. Of course, there are legitimate concerns on the other side, and the policy rationale behind criminalizing such an act makes some sense: we want to ensure that those in the district who are paying taxes directly benefit from those raised taxes and that, conversely, those from out-of-district aren't unjustly enriching themselves. Yet, if we truly want to ensure educational opportunity for all, something needs to change, whether it's the way we fund schools; the process we use to enroll students; or the opportunities we create, by law, for students in poor areas to retain access to great schools (which, likely, will be in rich areas). In a way, I admire Ms. McDowell's act. By trying to give her son the best education possible, even if that meant openly and knowingly breaking the law, she highlighted the injustice of the system. The irony of all this, too, is that, had Ms. McDowell claimed to be homeless, she would have been permitted to keep her son in the Norwalk schools under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. What are your thoughts on this case? I focused on the educational context. Anyone have insights on the other parts to the story? Homelessness? Drugs? School funding? Local government law? Race? Poverty?